Friday, December 31, 2010

Oh, how I adore fresh hot doughnuts! I think almost every person in the known world feels the same way. Would you believe that in all of Humboldt county there is not one single place to get a decent doughnut. Which to me seems even more appalling when you consider what our most produced "crop" is. This morning when I woke up I was determined to have some beingets, I would have gladly settled for a good doughnut if they existed here, but no, neither of them do.
I could have made a yeast dough, waited a few hours for the dough to rise, and then made beingets, but I don't like to wait. So I went to the fridge and dug out the can of ready to bake bread-stick dough I bought a few weeks ago. I simply heated my canola oil, cut the bread-sticks, rolled them into little balls, deep fried them and poof I had perfect crunchy on the outside and fluffy soft on the inside beingets.
Since the beingets were so simple I thought I'd make a few dipping sauces to go along with them.
I made a quick Kahlua-chocolate glaze by melting some chips in the microwave then stirring in a tablespoon of Kahlua and a bit of milk.Then I made and a delicious orange-vanilla bean glaze with orange juice, powdered sugar and vanilla bean cream cheese frosting I had leftover in the fridge.
I choose not to completely cover my beingets in powdered sugar because I prefer to dip them, and because I ALWAYS manage to inhale the powdered sugar and choke on it. Traditionally beingets are served only after a blizzard of powdered sugar has attacked them. I have also seen where these can also be made with canned biscuit dough and I imagine in of the canned doughs would work.
This made a perfect romantic breakfast for Jess and I but I can't wait until the boys come back from Gramma's so I can make them some too! Enjoy!

Monday, December 20, 2010

-Get the house to a more respectable level of dirty so we can leave it for a week

-Wash the dog, yes the one who lives outside and goes to work with Jessie every day just to play in every bit of muddy water she can find, she will be taking her first trip in my new car {wincing while I type that!}

-Hope in desperation that her,( the dog, Siri) farts subside before we get in the car for 5 hours

-Pack for everyone, except Jessie, because he insists on only packing himself 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of manties and 1 other shirt for an entire week, Yikes!

-Have a mini Christmas party with my neighbor and best friend so the children may exchange gifts.

-Look in disgust at the abyss guest room that my parents will be staying in the day after we get home, then shut the door and resign myself to cleaning it as soon as we get back, Ha!

-Sneeze, cough, wheeze and blow my nose ten thousand more times, yep, I've caught a cold, if there is something I really love it's breathing through my mouth. But on the bright side I won't be able to smell Siri's dog farts.

-Make a 'fridge cleaning' meal for dinner. By the looks of I think it will be some large scary quiche.

-Take our friends, and previous owners of our house all their Christmas cards that came here, for the 3rd year in a row. and politely remind them to give people their new address, for the 3rd year in a row

-Pack the car, Tetris style, so that at any given time nobody is is smashing more than 2 gifts or able to see the Santa bag.

-Pick up the pile of bandage wrappers, neosporin and bloody tissues from Jessie's cooking accident. We'll just say he may or may not have forgotten how to use a knife.

-Bathe the boys, Relax, enjoy my Christmas tree for one last day and kiss my husband, but not for long because I can't breathe through my nose.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

This year the boys seem to be very enamored with their stuffed friends. Mason, of course, has Baby, and Orion seems to have a new favorite snuggle partner everyday. So I thought I'd try to make them each a stuffed creature for Christmas. Then the other day while watching them squabble over the my heating pad I had a brilliant idea. I would make them stuffed creatures that were filled with rice so they could microwave them and have a warm and snuggly friend to take to bed each night. Now I am planning on making them for all the little munchkins in my life. Here's how I did it

1- Cut 2 large rectangles, 4 medium rectangles, and 4 long medium rectangles the long ones will be your legs, the shorter ones will be the arms and the 2 large ones will be the body. You can make a round monster or whatever you like, I'm going with this shape for ease of production.

2- Sew the leg and arm pieces together leaving 1 end open, turn them right sides out. This is easily done with a smooth chop stick or dowel.

3- Fill the arms and legs with rice and sew the open end shut. Pin the appendages in-between the 2 (right sides together rectangles) where you want them to be. ie, arms in arm like places and legs in a leggish sort of place. sew the entire creature together leaving an opening so you can turn it right sides out. I like to round my corners but do as you wish it is a monster and therefore may have any form.

all sewn up and half way turned out!

Turned right sides out and ready to be filled with rice and sewn shut

see finished snuggly monster, well I guess he is faceless but he's mostly finished

The monster may be microwaved for 1-2 minutes and should stay warm for at least an hour or so afterward. So today I am waist deep in flannel and rice making these little monsters for all of my little monsters.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

We live in the North-West, which means we have a lot of very gray and very rainy days. I have learned to adjust to our weather and enjoy the sunshine when it comes around but my kids are still learning. Most days when the sun is shining we practically shove the boys out the door. "go play in the yard while it's nice out," I exclaim as I hand them each a pb&j and close the door. Unfortunately this time of year it only stops raining about 1 day a week which leaves them cooped up for the other 6 days. I mean really, you can only bundle them up and make them play in the rain so much before your neighbor calls CPS.
So I made a deal with Santa and this is what he's bringing 2 very special little boys this Christmas

An xbox 360 and Kinect

which is the gaming console that uses infared cameras to track your body movements so the user is the controller. We played on a friends and Orion had a blast dancing, bowling, rafting...etc

Believe me I know this is a really lavish gift for a 5 year old but really it's more of a family gift. Plus this will give the boys a way to burn off energy when it's too yuckie outside to go play.

But there's a catch...

Santa is also including tokens that can only be earned by doing chores, good behavior, and helping out around the house. Each token will be good for either 5 or 10 minutes of game play so the boys may redeem however many tokens they have and play for that amount of time.

We have had this chore chart for some time and I have always had a difficult time coming up with worthwhile rewards for the boys

So I think I'll use this to keep track of tokens earned for each week.

I can't wait for Christmas morning, I think I'm just as excited to play this as the boys will be, only 9 days left!

I'm currently in bed with a really nasty Flu. The kids had it first so at least we are not all sick at the same time. Since I've been gone a few days I thought I'd show you all a really lovely Ornament ball that is super easy to make and can be made with any kind of paper.

It's from Jenni at Beautiful Nest, she has a really great blog and tons of great ideas.

I'm thinking about making a few of these for gift toppers.

well, I'm headed back to bed, hope you are all doing much better than I am today!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Gluhwine is a traditional German mulled wine served during the winter months and especially in the Christmas markets of Germany. A few years ago a dear friend brought us a few bottles for our holiday enjoyment and we have been hooked since. Without this libation it is just not Christmas, which seems silly considering that it's only been a few years since I first had it. pre-made Gluhwine is available at import stores like World Market, but I prefer to make my own so I know what is going into it. It is definitely an inexpensive drink to make and we have taken it to many parties with great success. The quality of the wine does not really matter as you will be adding Oranges and sugar to it but I do try to use an un-oaked red wine.

Empty the bottle of wine into a heavy saucepan. Squeeze orange halves into wine and add the juiced halves. Add sugar and spices and cook covered over medium heat. Turn off wine just before it begins to boil, leave mixture covered for about an hour so the spices can steep. Uncover and strain back into wine jug, keep refrigerated for 1-2 weeks, if it lasts that long. Heat individual cups covered in microwave for about a minute add a splash of brandy and serve. Can also be made in a crock-pot and kept warm for parties. If serving for a party leave the spices and oranges in and add 1- 1 1/2 cups brandy to entire batch. Enjoy!

I'm linking this up to the Saturday Nite Special party over at Funky Junk Interiors You should head over and check it out!

Friday, December 10, 2010

On the second day of Ornament tutorials your bloggie friend gave to you...

Origami Paper Stars

This is a super easy tutorial that makes perfect stars every time * if * you can follow the directions EXACTLY!

If you do, your diligence will be rewarded with this:

I like to use a card stock weight paper but of course you can use book pages, scrapbook paper, heavy wrapping paper, old Christmas cards or anything!

To distress the star I rubbed the edges of it on a Distress ink pad, which is basically just a brown ink pad that costs more : ). I also added a little rhinestone to the center. I have made a ton of these and you can adorn them however you wish. I hope you give this one a try since all you need is a sheet of heavy weight paper and a pair of scissors!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

On the first day of ornament tutorials your bloggie friend gave to you...

Glitter Ball Ornaments:

Okay so it is *almost* mess free because all the glitter is inside the ball, however be prepared to make quite a mess while making them. This is certainly not a new idea but it makes such beautiful ornaments and it's so easy I just had to share a tutorial with you.

Here is the cast, glass ball ornaments, Martha Stewart glitter and extra hold hairspray. Aqua net is the best for this job but I'm a use what you have kinda gal.

remove the top from the ornament and grab your hairspray

Hole the nozzle of the spray can into the hole and rotate ball as you spray

all sprayed up and ready for glitterizing!

Dump about a tablespoon of glitter into ball, you can tap out and save excess glitter so don't skimp

Hold your thumb over the hole and shake the ball like a crazy lady until the entire inside is coated and BEAUTIFUL!

Leave the tops off the balls until the hairspray is dry,

I leave mine overnight just to be sure.

replace the little metal top and enjoy! I like to hot glue the top on to avoid any glitter escaping in the years to come. I also like to take a little bronze paint and coat the aluminum top to make the ornament look a little vintage and much classier!

These ornaments hold up very well and they are a nice compromise for anti-glitter spouses.

Many times I've dreamnt of having an impeccably decorated Christmas tree...Then inevitably I remember that the joy of Christmas is truly through the experience of my children. When I was a child I was in charge of decorating the tree, I would stand back and point my tiny finger and force every person in the house to hang up "their" ornaments, where I thought they should go of course. The joy of decorating a tree was one of my favorite parts of the entire holiday season, and it still is today. That is why every year, when I feel the pang of perfection to take over and make it a decorators dream tree I stop and remind myself that I am responsible for creating someone else's magical holiday memories. With that In mind, I hand the box of ornaments over to the boys and sit back and watch as my tree becomes a child's masterpiece. It will not be long before I am begging them to help me decorate the tree, and I suppose the will have to set their teenage angst aside to help me. But that time is not here yet. so until then my trees will be overly ornamented, the loaded branches sagging under the weight of shiny balls, hand made ornaments and tin foil stars. It may not look as fancy but that's not what it's really about anyways.

here she is in all her glory

my proud elves

I am thankful every day that I have such amazing little boys to remind me what real happiness and perfection looks like.

Monday, December 6, 2010

I am so ecstatic to report that my sale was a success! We had a great turn out and I sold pretty much everything. I am finally getting around to posting some pictures of the boutique, this is definitely a long post so grab a cup of coffee and come on in...

Welcome to the Lilliedale Holiday boutique

Help yourself to a bite to eat. For appetizers we have chicken salad cups with cranberries and pecans, Brie in croute, and jalapeño artichoke dip. On the sweeter side we have cookies, vanilla bean cup cakes or red velvet cupcakes...mmm

Care for a drink, would you prefer a Kahlua-nog or a cranberry martini?

Now that you have a little nosh and cocktail in hand lets look around, shall we?

Sweater Sleeve candle holders

Paper rose ornaments

so pretty, and sold out so fast

antique sheet music balls, my personal favorite item in the sale

pretty paper stars

Birds nest tree topper

Victorian window chalk board

Birds nest chalk board

Photo frame

Silk flower tree and sweater stocking

Feathered bird tree

burlap wreath

Book page wreath

Peace book page wreath

the largest of the chalk boards

my favorite book page wreath

Antique sheet music ball

mixed media mantle picture

Red snowflake pillows

Linen pillows with a tiny tree embroidered in the corner

these are the only items that did not sell and I could't be happier because I really wanted them for myself

All in all things couldn't have gone better. I was not able to get photos of everything because we were busy and selling items right from the start. This week I am working on special orders placed at the sale and then I am off to spend part of the money on gifts for children in need. thank you for coming by and supporting my first venture in capitalism.

Oh yeah and I am linking this up to the brag Monday party at the Graphics Fairy. Karen at the Graphics Fairy is amazingly generous and has the best vintage graphics I've ever seen. If you've never been there you should check it out. I even get my blog layouts at her other site the Background Fairy.